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Volume 11, Issue 2 (March 2009) 11, 183–192; 10.1038/aja.2008.59
The antibody against a nuclear autoantigenic sperm protein can result in reproductive failure
Min Wang1,2,*, Jian-Li Shi1,2,*, Guo-Yan Cheng1,2, Yan-Qing Hu1,2 and Chen Xu1,2
1 Department of Histology & Embryology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200025, China
2 Shanghai Key Laboratory for Reproductive Medicine, Shanghai 200025, China
* These two authors contributed equally to this work.
Correspondence: Dr Chen Xu, Department of Histology & Embryology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, 280 South Chongqing Road, Shanghai 200025, China. Fax: +86-21-6466-3160 E-mail: chenx@shsmu.edu.cn
Received 16 September 2008; Revised 15 December 2008; Accepted 23 December 2008; Published online 16 February 2009
| Abstract |
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To study whether the antibody against the testis form of the nuclear autoantigenic sperm protein (tNASP) could result in reproductive failure, we successfully cloned and expressed a 339-bp cDNA fragment of mouse tNASP (mtNASP). Using mouse as a model, recombinant mtNASP (rmtNASP) and a synthetic peptide, human tNASP393-408 (htNASP393–408), were investigated for their antifertility effect. Active immunization with rmtNASP or the synthesized peptide raised high antibody titers in the immunized mice. Sperm-egg binding and fusion assay were carried out in 8–10-week-old BALB/c mice. Sperm-egg binding and in vitro fertilization of mouse oocytes were inhibited by co-incubation of zona-free mouse oocytes with capacitated mouse spermatozoa in the presence of varying concentrations of the antisera against rmtNASP. There was a significant antifertility effect in animals immunized with rmtNASP or the synthesized peptide. The effect on fertility in the mice immunized with the synthesized peptide was reversible. Our data indicate that active immunization with rmtNASP antigen may induce a strong antibody response that causes an inhibition of fertility.
Keywords: antifertility, gene expression, nuclear autoantigenic sperm protein (NASP), sperm-egg binding, sperm-egg fusion
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